Breaking past pattern is encouraging in dealing with N. Korea
(From The Japan Times Nov. 21 issue)

従来の対処法打破で対北政策強化を

U.S. President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak reaffirmed in Seoul on Nov. 19 that they will seek a "definite and comprehensive resolution" to the North Korean nuclear issue. Mr. Obama urged the North to return to the six-party nuclear talks, adding that he will send special representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth to the country Dec. 8.

In early October, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, meeting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Pyongyang, expressed his country's "readiness" for multilateral talks, including the six-party talks, "depending on the outcome" of bilateral talks with the United States. North Korea withdrew from the six-party talks last April to protest a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning its long-range rocket launch the same month. North Korea then detonated a nuclear device in May.

Mr. Bosworth's visit to the North will mark Washington's first bilateral talks with Pyongyang under the Obama administration. It is hoped that his meeting with North Korean officials will help to resuscitate the six-party talks. Utmost care should be taken so that North Korea does not use the meeting as a means of causing divisions among the five other parties — the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia — and of getting benefits through improved ties with the United States, and possibly with South Korea, without making clear concessions on the nuclear issue.

It is encouraging that Mr. Obama is clearly aware of North Korea's modus operandi in the nuclear negotiations. He said, "We (Mr. Obama and Mr. Lee) want to break the pattern that existed in the past, in which North Korea behaves in a provocative fashion, and then returns to talks for a while and then leaves the talks seeking further concessions."

Mr. Obama supported Mr. Lee's "grand bargain" proposal to provide large-scale economic assistance and security guarantees to North Korea in return for complete nuclear dismantlement. But concrete details of the proposal have yet to emerge. Close coordination among the countries concerned will be indispensable to making it work.

オバマ米大統領と韓国の李明博大統領は首脳会談で、北朝鮮の核問題に対し「決定的で包括的な解決」の必要性を再確認した。大統領は北朝鮮に6ヵ国協議復帰を迫り、ボスワース特別代表を派遣すると表明した。

北朝鮮が対話を利用して5カ国の亀裂を狙い、米韓との関係改善をとおして核問題で譲歩せず利益を得ることがないよう注意が必要だ。「北朝鮮が挑発的行動を取った後、対話に復帰し、さらなる譲歩を求めて再び協議を去るという過去のパターンの打破が必要と、李大統領と合意した」とのオバマ大統領の発言は心強い。

核廃棄と交換に経済支援や安全保障を与える李大統領の「一括妥結案」にオバマ大統領は支持を表明したが、具体策は未定だ。